


Old Mother West Wind

by CJSavvy



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Cleaning, Gen, Marauders, Reading, Remus being teased for loving books, Shenanigans
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-03-08
Updated: 2014-03-08
Packaged: 2018-01-15 00:43:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 928
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1284862
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CJSavvy/pseuds/CJSavvy
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Peter finds that he has read a book that Remus hasn't read. James and Sirius try to kill each other. Remus started it.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Old Mother West Wind

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter. Nope. J.K. Rowling does. Also do not own The Adventures of Old Mr. Toad by Thornton W. Burgess
> 
> Written for my personal LJ blog a very long time ago. No doubt inspired by The Shoebox Project as must of us were back then.

Peter sneezed, causing himself to drop the book he was holding. Unfortunately, it landed squarely on his toe. “Ouch!”

James peered around the corner of a large wardrobe. “You okay there, Wormtail?”

“Yeah.” Peter grinned sheepishly, reaching down for the book. 

The four friends were spending part of summer break at the Potter’s house. When their plans to see a Muggle football match had been foiled by some severe thunderstorms, Mrs. Potter had requested their help with some cleaning. She rarely asked anything of them, and they were happy to oblige when she did. As Sirius had declared, she was “A woman among women. An angel that walked among us. A right spiffing sport.” James had just rolled his eyes and hit him.

“James?” What should I do with this?” Remus called from across the room, holding up a small statuette of some famous wizard whose name James couldn‘t recall at the moment.

“Just put it on that table over there. I’m not sure where mum wants that to go.”

“The Adventures of Old Mr. Toad.” Peter read.

“Eh?” 

Peter held up a small book. “It was underneath that wardrobe.”

“Probably planning to attack your unsuspecting feet,” came Sirius’s muffled voice. “Good thing you caught it, mate.” His head was stuck under the bed in the guestroom they were cleaning, and he was pulling out a few odds and ends tossed under for storage.

Remus smiled mischievously, and crossed the room. Making sure to tread on Sirius’s outstretched foot on the way. Sirius yelped, jumped up, then yelped again when he smacked his head on the underside of the bed.

“Guess you weren’t guarding your feet to well.” James said, cackling at his friend’s irate expression.

Sirius glared at him, rubbing his head. Getting up, he suddenly launched himself at James.

“Hey!” James yelled. “It was Remus! Not me!”

“You laughed.” Sirius growled, and pinned him on his back before relenting and letting him up.

“Well! Remind me never to laugh at the great Sirius Black ever again!” James said sarcastically, rubbing the back of his head.

Remus, who’d been absorbed in Peter’s find, glanced at James. “How’d you end up with this?”

“It’s mum’s. Has some sentimental value, I think. I’m not sure.”

“What’s it about? As we all know that you, Mr. Remus J. “nose-always-in-a-dusty-tome” Lupin has read it.” Sirius said, sorting through the small pile of objects that he’d retrieved before being so rudely interrupted. “By the way, what should I do with this?” He asked, holding up a box of old baby toys and grinning like the Mad Hatter.

“Burn it.” James made a grab for the box, but Sirius held it out of reach.  
“Actually, despite how many “dusty tomes” my nose has seen, I’ve never read this one.” Remus said, once again ignoring the fact that the boys he was addressing were currently engaged in a tussle over a box of old toys.

“I have.” Peter piped up from Remus’s side. 

“Really?” James asked, in the midst of aiming a kick at Sirius’s stomach.

Peter nodded. “Yeah. It was really good.”

“Oomph!” Sirius groaned, and doubled over, giving James the chance to snatch the box away from him.

“Got it!” James crowed.

“Everything all right in here?” Mrs. Potter asked from the doorway.

“Yes, Mrs.,. Potter.,” Remus, always the polite one, answered. “I’m afraid that James and Sirius are merely trying to kill each other. Again.”

“You started it.” Sirius wheezed at him from the floor where he was still trying to regain his lost oxygen.

“Well, just as long as you don’t break anything.” Mrs. Potter said in exasperation, but they could all see the amused glint in her eye. She was about to leave when she saw the book Remus was holding.

“Oh my! Where’d you find that?” She asked, stepping around to his side of the bed.

“I found it beneath the wardrobe.” Peter spoke up. 

“Must have been fallen off a shelf and been kicked under there. My mother used to read from this to me every night before bed. “ She had a slightly distant look in her eyes, when she said it.

“My mother used to read to me as well.” Remus said.

“That explains a lot.” Sirius teased. He was now off the floor, and sitting on the bed.

Remus ignored him. “May I read this during our visit?” 

Mrs. Potter returned from whatever distant past she was seeing and smiled at him. “Of course you may, Remus. I know I don’t have to remind you to be careful with it.”

“No, there’s no one who takes better care of books then good ‘ol Remus here. Why, he treats them like family.” Sirius said, grinning.

“Yeah. If he spends any more time with them, he’ll become a book himself. They’ll place him on a pedestal in a library somewhere, with a sign warning all who see that this is what happens when you love your books too much.” James finished.

Remus sighed in exasperation, and turned to Mrs. Potter. “How do you live with him?”

That night, the Marauders all sprawled out in James’s bedroom. James on his bed, toying with a small mirror that he’d found in the box, Sirius was sitting on the window seat, watching the stars, Peter was on his back on the floor, and Remus was sitting cross-legged near his head, a book open in his lap.

“The Adventures of Old Mr. Toad by Thornton W. Burgess. Chapter 1. Old Mother West Wind had just come down from the Purple Hills…”

**Author's Note:**

> Quotes from The Adventures of Old Mr. Toad by Thornton W. Burgess


End file.
